An ongoing campaign launched in early February by Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, gained momentum over the weeks leading up to today’s primary and is posing a problem for President Joe Biden. Michigan is home to the largest population of Arab Americans in the nation, and many of those voters, primarily Democrats, are opting to vote uncommitted in the Michigan primary in the wake of the president’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Listen to Michigan campaign, composed of more than 30 Michigan officials are demanding that Biden support a ceasefire in the war-ravaged region and encourage Michigan voters to show support for the proposal by voting uncommitted in Tuesday’s primary.
“We feel completely neglected and just unseen by our government. If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted,” Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, said in a video posted Saturday on X by the group Listen to Michigan.
Tlaib, the first Palestinian woman to serve in Congress has been a long-time critic of the president previously accused the administration of supporting a Palestinian “genocide.”
Biden won Michigan, a swing state, by more than 150,000 votes in 2020, while Trump took it in 2016 by a margin of just over 10,000 — which is the minimum number of “uncommitted” votes the Listen to Michigan campaign organizers are hoping to see in today’s primary.
“Mr. President, the American people are not with you on this one,” Tlaib said in a November video, adding, “We will remember in 2024.”